What is the most unethical thing you have ever been asked to do by your employer?

1. I was told to by a client to deny a claim that I knew we owed and then delete any reference to a video of the accident that proves the client's negligence. The email from the client came as I was working the claim, and I had enough plausible deniability to say I didn't see the email before I paid the claim. I then informed my supervisor, her supervisor and our manager that I wouldn't handle claims for this client as there was no way in hell I would risk a bad faith suit over what turned out to be a $800 claim.
   — -Words-Words-Words-


2. Worked the night shift at a shady motel. Was overlooking the security cameras and spotted a guy breaking into a truck. I called the cops. While on the phone with them, I witnessed the owner of the truck confront the man. The man got all stabby with the owner and got him pretty good in the gut. Stabby takes off so I go out to render aid to the owner of the truck while the authorities came. Once the paramedics took over I called my boss who tells me not to give the cops any testimony or access to the cameras. I did the opposite of this, because my boss was a major asshole anyway.
   — PureFingClass


3. I used to deliver furniture. I wasn't asked to do something just unethical, it was straight illegal. We were regularly asked to do deliveries well beyond the time the DOT said we were allowed to be in the truck. I finally printed off several copies of the laws and would hand them to the managers anytime they asked. I found out after I left they had the new crew work something like a 37 hour shift. Driving a box truck. They're lucky no one ever died.
   — Legend017






4. At a job interview I was asked, "How would you rate your comfort level with breaking the law?". I said, "I don't know - 1, zero - whatever the lowest option is. I'm not going to do it." That was the end of the interview.
   — Ganglebot


5. Worked at a gas station in college. The manager was the son of the owner and basically got to come and go as he pleased. He had it pretty good. The store was open 6am-11pm. He would stroll in around 8-9am and take care of a few things. Most days, he was out the door by 1pm at the latest. Then his dad sold the store. He stayed on as the manager but he suddenly had new rules he was expected to follow. He had to drive around town twice a day and report the gas prices from a half dozen other stations in the area (which he never did and always forged). He was expected to work 50 hours a week and, when new ownership found out he was barely working half as much, they made him start clocking in and out despite being a salaried employee. Well that lasted maybe two days and he started forging his timecard. He would come in around 8am, leave at noon, and come back at like 6-7pm just to punch out. That lasted maybe a week and then he started asking employees to commit his timecard fraud for him. He would have someone clock him in around 6am when the store opened, and he would call the store around 5-6pm every day and ask someone to clock him out. Looking back on it, I'm more bothered about it now than I was at the time. I didn't even realize I could have easily been fired for helping him commit fraud like that.
   — mikevanatta


6. Photoshop tires of a tractor (one tire is worth about 3000€) so they look demolished and the boss could get a second set of tires for free.
   — Madamecoco






7. Lie to customers to lure them into what was basically a scam. The job was "technical customer support", we were supposed to help people with real problems, turned more and more into a sales job with the problemsolving being an important sidenote. "Oh the phone you received doesn't work? Well I'm sorry, here, have this crap that will cost you money after a month for free. No I don't have time to solve your issue Sir, I have another customer. Please try turning it off and on again. Bye."
   — frerky5


8. I was doing an unpaid internship at an international organization in Geneva. My immediate boss was asking me to write 8-10,000 word reports on very narrow topics with specific guidelines. This was a bit odd given other interns were being asked to do much broader work, or work that fitted into upcoming or emerging projects. I quite quickly realized that my reports were going to be used as chapters in her PhD (she was doing a part-time PhD for quite a few years). Once I worked this out, I refused to write the reports in the style she wanted, and asked for either broader topics or to see the project into which it was being integrated. This led to her threatening my position, me going to her boss and reporting her, and eventually a shitty workplace environment for several months. Ironically, this was at the ILO.
   — thedeliberative


9. Not really unethical, but when I was a call receiver for AAA emergency roadside service we had a script we had to read for every call. In this script, it would offer 'suggestions' based on what type of service was being requested. Need a tire change, we were made to offer to bring you to a local mechanic to sell you new tires. I would frequently get a talking to because my call times were 'too short'. I am sorry, I thought these people were calling because they are broke down somewhere and need emergency service, not a fucking sales spiel. Especially when they started the call with "My cell is about to die, please help" I quit 2 weeks shy of a year. That was a stressful environment.
   — krystyana420






10. Sell a $1500 furnace (installation included) for $5000 to a old lady because she'll never know she's being ripped off. Funny side note, that guy is in jail for money laundering and embezzlement now.
    — beardingmesoftly


11. I worked for a low-income apartment complex as a leasing agent. a resident came in wanting to extend her lease to a month to month basis, which the lease clearly stated that she could do. I asked the property manager what paperwork we needed to draw up in order to make that happen. Her answer was that "we don't do that." I told her that the resident has a signed document saying that we do. Her response was "tell her to get a lawyer if she wants to contest it".
    — thunderbuns2


12. I live in New York State, we have what's known as a "three hour rule" here. Pretty much it's a rule, where you cannot be scheduled for anything less than a three hour shift, unless you volunteer for it. If you are working your shift, and have not reached the three hour point, you can't be told to go home yet, you have to volunteer. Otherwise, your business would need to pay you for a full three hour shift, even if you didn't work it. I worked for a certain sandwich company that delivers "very quick" deliveries, in one of their breakthrough stores in Upstate New York. We were asked, by our area manager, to ignore this rule. I didn't. I would ask people if they wanted to leave, and if they said, no, I would just say "okay" and move on. Eventually they figured it out. Fuck that company.
    — Brofist45






13. Worked in clothing retail. Some of our jeans were found to contain carcinogenic dye, and we had to box them up and put them in the back room until we could send them away. No problem. We put away like, four, maybe five boxes. Almost a year goes by and those jeans are still out there. Finally head office sends through a list of instructions on how to label them in order to send them away. Thing is, the instructions are *really* sketchy. They weren't sent using the official HO email, and they explicitly tell us not to inform the delivery driver what is in the boxes, that we can't use the usual delivery labels we use, and not to write anything about 'RECALL' or 'HAZARD' or anything of the sort on the box. Anyway, delivery driver rocks up and he immediately knows what's up because we aren't using the labels we're meant to be using. He tells us he can't take the boxes, and we say fine. We're casuals. The boxes sit there a bit longer and our area administrator gets on us to *force* the delivery guy to take the boxes. I do a little research. Carcinogenic jeans aren't meant to be transported in the regular delivery truck, our company has got to pay for a different service because they're classed as hazardous material. The company wanted to save money on the products they'd already lost money on by sending it through the regular delivery channels. Eventually the area administrator had to come in and pick them up himself. I wish I had told the delivery driver so he could've reported the company to his company.
    — vividlyvisceral


14. I'm GM at a restaurant and was asked by my area manager to purposely short people's hours in order to make sure we come in on labour costs. Hard no from me, and if I find out that it has been done anyway I will be reporting it to the operations director. Never mess with anyone's money
    — UncleWray


15. I worked as a lifeguard in HS. For the most part management was all great. One day around closing time we had a monstrous thunderstorm. I mean multiple flashes of lighting within 2 miles of us every minute. We had finished cleanup (which in itself was unsafe since we had to go outside to do it), except hadn't gotten the toys (noodles and those foam balls) out of the pool. I was the most senior person there (other than the manager) and decided that we'll just leave the toys. The only ways to get them out was to either get into the pool, or to use a 20 foot metal pole with a hook on the end to get them. Either method was too dangerous to do during a thunderstorm just so that the pool will look neater. The manager caught us leaving and told me cleanup wasn't finished, there was still stuff in the pool. I told him that I'm not risking my life for some foam toys, and he then told me to have the other guy do it. I just walked out instead. I'm not 100% sure whether he was actively unethical or just dumb, because I saw him with the hook as I drove off. I got written up for it.
    — alabamadoesntexist